Liu Jiuan, nicknamed Johnny, and played by Jet Li, is an agent for the Chinese government. He`s assigned to travel to Paris, a city he hasn`t been to before, to assist the French police in a drug bust involving a Chinese citizen. The confrontation takes place in a ritzy hotel, but Johnny soon realises that the French cop in charge, Jean-Pierre Richard, Tcheky Karyo, is corrupt; the drug courier is killed, and Johnny`s set up as the fall guy - but he`s fast on his feet and soon forms an unlikely alliance with an American prostitute, Bridget Fonda, who witnessed the murder - from then on it`s action all the way.
Kiss Of The Dragon is a majority French co-production, directed by first-timer Chris Nahon, but you suspect the guiding hand behind it is co-producer and co- Screenwriter, Luc Besson. There are several allusions to films Besson directed himself; Tcheky Karyo`s crazy killer-cop is very much like the character Gary Oldman played in The Professional. Karyo played a key role in Besson`s Nikita, and when Hollywood remade that film, Bridget Fonda played the lead in The Assassin. But this is mainly a vehicle for Jet Li, another of the film`s producers, and, though he lacks the humour and grace of Jackie Chan, he`s still a fine, brooding presence as the outsider in trouble. The script relies too much on coincidences, and the ultra-violence is depressing at times, but Paris makes a colourful backdrop to all the action and fans of martial arts films should enjoy this, even if the rest of us aren`t all that delighted.
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